I'm taking...

Tonight, the boys were wanting some ice cream.  Enoch chose orange sherbet (yes, sherbet - not sherbert.  We had a huge discussion about this.  I'm convinced people from Utah can't say sherbert!)  Guard chose mint brownie.
Greg dished up Guard's.  Well, Dad only put in one scoop and Guard wanted two. 
"Two, Dad!  Two scoops of ice cream!"  Guard yelled.  Dad promised Guard more ice cream when he ate that.
"No!  Two scoops now!"
Greg said, "I'm going to make you go live in the Philippines with your Grandpa Randall and he will give you all the ice cream you want."
Guard said, "Good.  Me take Ned, my dinosaurs, my power discs."
Greg then asked him if he would need clothes.
"Why?" Guard answered.
Guard ended up with three servings of 'one biggest scoops'.  Geesh that kid loves ice cream!

Watching Despicable Me and sitting on the wood floor (not the carpet!) with their ice cream.

We are so proud of them!

We had a busy weekend with the kids.  We started with Gavin's wisdom teeth surgery on Friday morning (see post).  On Friday afternoon, Kate and I attended her Rocky Mountain Invitational Gymnastics Meet.  On Saturday afternoon, Enoch performed in his piano recital.
Kate's gym meet this week was at Ace's Gym, just up the road from us.  It was great!  The gym is new, so everything was so nice...and crowded, very crowded.  They roster had at least 150 girls on it!  It was a long night.
Kate is loving her gym meets.  She did so well and had a great time with her teammates.  I didn't get great video of any of her events, so I won't post, but she did awesome!  Her vault is still her lowest score.  She took 7th place on beam, 5th place on bars and 2nd place on floor!  She was competing in the 7-8 year old category and there were about 25 girls (I think!).  We are so proud of her!

 Her team, Excel Bronze from Utah Twisters, took 2nd place overall.  Her coaches let her take home the trophy and babysit over the weekend.  (Let's just say that awards ceremony went on for at least 45 minutes.  By that time it was close to 9pm and Kate was exhausted.  I'm glad we didn't have a long way to travel home.  But, a Friday night meet was very convenient.)

"It's big and heavy!" she said.

Enoch was so nervous for his recital.  He still hasn't gotten over those performance jitters (I'm not sure he ever will!).  When it was his turn to perform, he stood up to announce his piece and instead said, "I'm nervous!"

 He did so well!  I'm so proud of him.  Lots of practice and time went into those songs.  He likes playing them and we have heard them a lot!  It will be nice to have him learn some new songs.
After the recital, we went to Arctic Circle for dinner.  They have a play place, you know.
Such a great weekend.  I love to see my kids doing well at something they love!

Gavin's Wisdom Teeth

Hmm..I've always wondered why they call them wisdom teeth. 
Anyway, Gavin no longer has his.
They are gone.
Forever.
Good.
We know they have needed to come out for awhile now.  Not sure why I decided now, but it seemed like a good time.  We found a great oral surgeon, Dr. Ryser, in Lehi. We went in for a consult, he said, "Let's take them out."  We scheduled it for a few days later.
Dr. Ryser told us that technically Gavin had enough room in his mouth to keep all four of his wisdom teeth.  He lucked out - big mouth, average-sized teeth.  But, they were growing up under his gums and there was no way to keep them clean.  They would eventually decay and need a lot of attention.  So, let's just be rid of them.
Gavin wasn't showing much apprehension the morning of the surgery, but I knew he was a bit nervous.  First up was the IV.  When the nurse looked at Gavin's arms, she got a big smile on her face.  Gavin has those great Fowler veins.  After putting in the IV with no problem she said, "That was the easiest IV I've ever done."

Next, they put some oxygen on him and scurried around the room a bit getting things ready.  Dr. Ryser came in with his big tray of tools and talked to us for a bit.

Gavin still seemed okay.  Tough teenager!  Dr. Ryser pulled out the happy meds, squeezed them into Gav's IV and he was out.  I went to sit in the waiting room.  I brought a quilt I was binding, a book and a list of texts I needed to send.  I only got through about four texts when I could hear them yelling Gavin's name.  I was a bit panicked.  I wasn't sure if something was going wrong.  The receptionist could tell I was nervous so she went back to see what was going on.  He was fine, surgery was over and they were trying to wake him up.  That was fast!
They took me back to the room.  Gavin was still trying to wake up.  I promised no videos, but I did sneak a few pictures.  He had a bit of a hard time waking up, but he did okay.  He kept trying to pull off his ice packs and he was asking the same few questions over and over.  When they would ask him a question, it took him a long time to come up with an answer and when he did, he was so proud of himself!  It was rather cute.

 The nurse and I gently walked him out to the car.  He got in the front seat and kept asking if he could drive.  He said, "I don't know why you are here.  I could drive myself home.  But I can see better right now with my eyes closed, so I would just close my eyes.  But, I could drive myself home."  Okay.  Not today, honey.
We stopped briefly by Fowlers to pick up Guard and then we quickly headed home.  It was a long walk inside from the garage, but Gavin finally made it to our room.  I kept him upstairs so I could check on him.  I got him some chocolate milk and Lortab, put on a movie and he just spaced out.

The meds wore off soon and he was up and looking for something to eat.  He was hungry, but didn't want to eat.  He settled on some mint brownie ice cream.  He ate that and chocolate milk all day.  He spend the rest of the day watching movies.  By afternoon, he was feeling fine.
He couldn't find anyone to take his shift that night, so he showed up to work (Jen drove him).  They promptly sent him home when they heard his story.
He has done so well, not a lot of pain, no swelling and no bruising.  He got off lucky, I think!

Scattered Thoughts on Guard

1.  Guard's favorite show right now is Wild Kratts.  Always Kratts.  He could watch it 24/7.  But, lately, he has developed a taste for Wallace & Grommit.  He loves Grommit.  I only wish they made more.

2.  He had a nasty stomach bug last week - his first case of diarrhea since being potty trained.  He was quite concerned.  He told me, "My poop melted."  It was a long weekend.

3.  Tonight he was playing dinosaurs with Dad.  Dad had the dino he wanted.  He said, "Dad, give me that dinosaur."  Dad said, "Try asking again, Guard."  Guard stomped his foot, folded his arms, growled and said, "Give me that dinosaur.  Now!"  Hmm...Dad did not give him that dinosaur.

4.  Guard is my Lego boy.  He can play Legos hour after hour.  Legos are out everyday.  Really.  We clean up a lot of Legos.  Guard will build everything.  Or anything.  He loves building habitats for his Lego animals, buildings, airplanes, binoculars, etc. 
Tonight, he made a phone.

That was after he took apart his giraffe pyramid.

He's so cute!  Gosh, I love this kid.

Scattered Thoughts

1.  We were so excited to have Gavin return home after being in St. Louis for one week.  We missed him and it feels good to have him back with us.  We decorated his door with our New Year's snowflakes and Kate made him a welcome home sign.  Love you, Gavin!

2.  Kate is a great reader, but still learning.  I got her these early chapter books at Costco a few months ago.  She was excited to have them, but not quite sure about reading them yet.  Finally, I forced her to get them out for reading time one day.  Guess what?  She loved them.  She finished one book in two days and was so proud of herself for finishing her first chapter book.  Now, she can't stop reading them, Magic Tree House, Flat Stanley, any chapter book she can find that looks good.  Great job, Kate!

3.  I hate that feeling when we sit down for FHE and I have nothing concrete planned.  Happened this week.  After some fast thinking on my feet, we pulled out the scripture reader, read about Lehi's Dream and they kids recreated it with Legos.  Our great and spacious building got destroyed by Guard before I got a picture.  But, we have a rod of iron, a mist of darkness the people have to travel through and a tree of life.  Not too shabby!

Kate's First Gym Meet!

When Kate's coaches approaches me last summer and suggested that Kate was ready to compete, I was surprised.  We weren't taking gymnastics to have the end goal of competing.  It had never really crossed my mind to have Kate participate in meets.  We were just there to have fun and keep Kate somewhat safe while she did flips of the couch and cartwheels down the length of the hall.

So...I thought about it.

I talked to Greg about it (he was just as surprised as I was).

We finally talked to Kate.  We explained what meets were, how competitive gymnastics would be a bit different than the class she was in now, the time commitment, the nature of competitive sports.  We asked how she felt.  She told us she wanted to give it a try, that she would work hard and do her best.  And still have fun.  Okay, we said.  We will try it.

She was thrilled!

Fast forward to today.  Her first meet.  Truth be told, I was more nervous than she was.  Typical.  Kate usually doesn't let these things get to her too much.  She was more excited about her new leo and ribbons for her hair.  Again, typical.

She did look so adorable.  And grown up.  And I'll admit, I did get teary.  Just don't grow up too fast!

When I bought this ribbon, I was in a rush because Guard was bored and mad that he had to run errands and was pulling all the ribbon off the shelves and throwing it at people who were walking by.  Grr and sigh.  I hurriedly picked the one that matched her leo best.  When I got home I realized it was wired ribbon.  But, Kate loved it so we made it work.  It was very tricky to get it in her hair and tied.  Let's not even start on the glitter mess I left in the bathroom as we rushed out the door!

The meet was at Bailie's Gymnastics in Draper.  Luckily I spotted a few other gym moms on the way up and I just followed them.  We got there with a few minutes to spare.  Little did I know, that these things usually don't start on time.  I guess we have to be there on time for Kate to warm-up anyway!  I send her into the gym with her favorite coach, Gentry, and I went up to the bleachers, realizing quickly that I was going to be sitting there for four hours to watch Kate for 90 seconds.  yippee.  And the seats did not have a great view of the gym below.  blast.

After getting comfortable (yeah, right), I took a minute to look at the roster.  My heart sank a bit.  We had talked to Kate about doing her best, having fun and being a good teammate, but I really did want her to place in something, just to make her feel like all the hard work was worth it and to keep going.  I knew she wouldn't get a top three finish at her first meet, but I also knew they usually placed out to 10th place at these meets.  I was hoping she would get something.  Turns out her division was ten and under with 35 girls in it.  Hmm.. there is a huge difference between a six year old and a ten year old in gymnastics.  Kate is just so tiny, that she doesn't have the power that some of the other girls have and I knew that it would affect her scores.  Well, I thought, it will be a good learning experience and I hope she is having enough fun she doesn't care too much that she didn't earn a ribbon or medal.

Her first event was floor.  She loves floor and I was happy this was her first event.  She did so well.  I know she was hoping to do a bit more on floor, but her routine was cute and she performed well.

It was a big deep breath for me when she was done.  She had a huge smile on her face and I knew she was going to be fine.
Next up was vault.  Sorry, no pics.  She did great, but was a bit wobbly.
Her favorite event was next - bars.  I knew she would do well and she did!
And finally beam.  Another deep breath.  Beam is her least favorite and she can be pretty shaky sometimes.  But!  She did so well!  I was so proud of her!

Oh my goodness!  We were done.  I was so spent and Kate was so wired.  And now the awards.  I wasn't really sure what to expect and, truthfully, I wasn't expecting much for her first meet.  Vault awards were first.  I didn't hear her name and I wasn't surprised.  Next was bars. I was a bit zoned out, but when I heard, "Kate from Utah Twisters," I perked right up.  I was so happy I started jumping up and down.  She had taken fourth! 

She also earned eighth places for beam and floor.  She place eighth place overall.  I was so happy for her.  Utah Twisters took first place overall.

She had such a great time with her teammates.  We discovered her second cousin, Haylee, is in her class.  How did we go for so long without knowing that?!  Guess when you only get together for reunions every few years that stuff happens.  They were talking and laughing together throughout the entire meet and were so excited to find out they are cousins!

Thanks to Kate's awesome coaches for giving her such a great experiences.  They are fantastic! (Kate and her favorite coach, Gentry.  (I've never noticed how much they look alike!)

Videos.  I completely missed her beam routine.  Trust me, it was great!

Scattered Thoughts

1.  Enoch was awarded his bear award tonight at Pack Meeting.  We are so proud of all his hard work.  He had great leaders (thanks Sister Youngberg and Simpson), good friends and had a wonderful time.

2. Winter is hard on Coal.  She has no problem being outside, but nobody wants to take her for a walk in 20 degree weather.  She is feeling a bit neglected.  Poor puppy!  Enoch did play ball with her today and she loved it!

3.  Guard decided to sleep in his goggles tonight.  When he's your fourth kid, you just go with it.

January Doldrums

January is just a hard month.  Apologizes to anyone who has a birthday in January.  We don't in our family; we can't even look forward to a birthday. 
It just a long, hard, cold month.  Throw in our lovely Utah inversion that hits every year at this time and we are just trying to get through.
For some reason, this year has been particularity difficult.  It's been a bit warmer and sunnier, so I know it's not the weather.  That has actually been a pleasant surprise.  We haven't been too sick - a few sniffles, a few mornings of sore throats, a few nights of croupy cough - but nothing that has put us in bed (aside from a nasty migraine of mine last week).
We are just struggling at our house.
Maybe, I'm struggling and then passing it on to everyone else.  January is always a challenge for me:  Christmas let-down,  cloudy skies, cabin-fever kids, dirty ugly snow.  It seems to hit all at once.  If I can make it through to Enoch's and Kate's birthdays in February, then I can see the end of winter in sight.  We will still have snow in April, but the sun seems to stay with us longer, the kids can stay outside longer - it just feels different.
We had such a blast over Christmas break, that getting back into a routine, while welcome, has been tricky. 
Guard loved having everyone home. 
I loved a break from homework. 
Enoch really loved a break from homework. 
We all loved having Greg home for two weeks. 
We loved sleeping in (except for Enoch who was up every morning at 6am throughout the entire break).
We loved doing things together as a family. 
We loved not having a schedule. 
Kate loved a break from gymnastics. 
Gavin loved catching up on his sleep. 
Guard loved having egg nog every day (nog, as he calls it - it is his favorite!). 
Enoch loved reading for as long as he wanted.
Enoch, Kate and Guard loved watching Dragons as many times as they wanted. 
I loved not having to be the naggy task-master, making sure everything was getting done.
Usually I love being on a schedule, but its been a hard transition this year.  My brain still wants to be on vacation.  I guess we all needed it.
But, January is here.  And we will make the best of it.  February isn't too far off!

Airborne

The kids have been asking all Christmas break to go to Airborne.  We knew our time was getting short, so today was the day.  We got there early, jumped for an hour and wore the kids out.  They had so much fun!
Enoch and Kate were all over the place.  Greg too!  It's hard to get good pictures when they are going so fast! 
They had a blast!

Guard also had a blast!  He was a bit bossy with the other kids, but he didn't push any buttons too hard.

I think we will be going back again.  I just hope they sanitize those mats every now and then.